Observations About Fear of Change

Different classrooms in three schools across socio-economic borders and diverse learning and cultural backgrounds.

Countless students with innumerable needs and challenges have graced my presence and watched me change at rates sometimes too slow to notice.

But now, looking back I barely recognize the teacher I was in the beginning. Tightly I clung to what I believed was best for kids, fixed and devout in my practice despite the fact that I had no practice.

Ironically, I thought I was doing what was best. Working hard for kids and taking risks within the scope of my then current experience.

I was wrong about so much and after radically changing many of my practices and adjusting with the times, I see the fear of change in many of my colleagues and in education in general as I once ascribed to many of the same beliefs.

Changing tradition is hard; no one will argue that, but keeping things the same JUST BECAUSE it's how it has always been is not a good enough reason.

Many of us have been grandfathered into this system, using our experience as students to guide our pedagogy. We've taken classes, attended professional development, but something still keeps many from plunging into the unknown.

Fear.

We ask kids to take risks every day, but if we can't do it ourselves, we can't expect them to do it either.

As educators, we must be fearless in taking risks and comfortable in our humanness with a high probability of being wrong or making mistakes publicly. Then more importantly modeling how to cope with those set backs, how to turn them into positive learning expansions rather than debilitating frustrations that force us back into what we know.

When we allow fear to control our progress, we impede the rate in which we grow and therefore also impair our students. They watch everything. They notice everything. The more vocal of them point out our hypocricy and refuse to play our game if we won't even play it.

And who can blame them?

Because so much of education is sadly about blame.

Each of us needs to look deeply at ourselves. We need to reflect on our practice objectively and then make the necessary changes.

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